Indian Energy Exchange now has World Bank in its list of Voluntary REC Buyers

Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) today said that World Bank, POSOCO (Power System Operation Corporation Ltd) and REconnect Energy Trading Company have become the first entities to purchase voluntary RECs in January’16 REC trading session.ETEnergyWorld | Updated: January 28, 2016, 18:31 IST

New Delhi: Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) today said that World Bank, POSOCO (Power System Operation Corporation Ltd) and REconnect Energy Trading Company have become the first entities to purchase Voluntary RECs in January’16 REC trading session.

Voluntary REC market is usually driven by buyers such as organizations & individuals with no specific obligation to purchase RECs and hence no penalty for non-compliance.

Renewable Energy Certificates are the green attributes that allow companies, organizations and individuals to offset their carbon footprints without investing capital into generation capacities or buying green power.

Organizations across the globe have been either buying green power or purchasing RECs voluntarily to offset their carbon footprints.

As far as voluntary market is concerned In India, it is not even a fraction of compliance market, but entities like World bank, POSOCO, IREDA, Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited, Security Printing and Minting Corporation Nigam Ltd, REconnect, Manikaran Power Trading ltd, EKI Energy Services Limited are the few names that have purchased RECs voluntarily to reduce the environmental impact of their business activities, the IEX statement said.

Based on the annual energy consumption, an entity can purchase RECs (1 REC=1000KWh) through IEX for the percentage of energy which the entity wants to buy from renewable energy sources, IEX said in the statement.

“To save the environment and to fight climate change, my government has planned a major campaign. By 2022, we want to generate 175 GW of renewable energy. In the last three years, we have already achieved 60 GW or around one-third of this target,” he said.